Spinsheet Magazine Profiles Gale Force Sailing Owner
August 29, 2009
The August Slide Show
August 28, 2009
Kill Bill
August 20, 2009
Dag nab it! There is a hurricane coming this way. You’d think up in the Maritimes I’d be away from this pesky thing. But all of the models I’ve seen have this storm taking the Gulf Stream elevator right up to where I am.
The shame of it all is this weekend is the Bluenose Maritime Championships. So at this point, it looks like that will be a one day affair, rather than two. Then we’ll scramble to pull the wooden boats out of the water before we get smacked. Which then means nothing will happen but a bit of rain. But better to be cautious.
Here is what the brains are saying.
WTNT43 KNHC 201447 TCDAT3 HURRICANE BILL DISCUSSION NUMBER 21 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL032009 1100 AM AST THU AUG 20 2009 CONVENTIONAL SATELLITE...MICROWAVE IMAGES AND NUMEROUS OBSERVATIONS FROM A NOAA P-3 RESEARCH PLANE INDICATE THAT BILL HAS WEAKENED A LITTLE BIT DURING THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS. DVORAK T-NUMBERS HAVE DECREASED SINCE YESTERDAY...THE EYEWALL HAS BECOME OPEN TO THE SOUTHWEST AND THE MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL AND SFMR WINDS WERE 121 AND 93 KNOTS...RESPECTIVELY...EARLIER THIS MORNING. IN FACT...SOME ARC CLOUDS ARE MOVING AWAY FROM THE HURRICANE SUGGESTING THAT BILL IS NOT STRENGTHENING AT THIS TIME. BASED ON THESE DATA...THE INITIAL INTENSITY HAS BEEN REDUCED TO 105 KNOTS...AND THIS IS PROBABLY ON THE HIGH SIDE. THE LARGE SCALE ENVIRONMENT IS CONDUCIVE FOR REINTENSIFICATION SINCE BILL IS ABOUT TO ENCOUNTER THE WARMEST WATERS ALONG ITS PATH SO FAR...AND THE SHEAR IS FORECAST TO BE QUITE LIGHT. HOWEVER...MOST OF THE INTENSITY CHANGE COULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH EYEWALL REPLACEMENT CYCLES. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST CALLS FOR RESTRENGTHENING AND BILL IS EXPECTED TO REACH CATEGORY FOUR AGAIN IN A DAY OR SO. THEREAFTER...THE HURRICANE SHOULD GRADUALLY BEGIN TO INTERACT WITH A MID-LATITUDE TROUGH AND BY 96 HOURS IT SHOULD BE IN EXTRATROPICAL TRANSITION AND BE FULLY EXTRATROPICAL IN FIVE DAYS. BILL HAS CONTINUED TO MOVE ON A STEADY NORTHWEST TRACK OR 305 DEGREES AT 16 KNOTS...EMBEDDED WITHIN THE FLOW SURROUNDING THE AZORES-BERMUDA HIGH. IN ABOUT TWO DAYS...THE HURRICANE WILL BECOME STEERED NORTHWARD AND THEN NORTHEASTWARD BY THE FLOW BETWEEN A LARGE MID-LATITUDE TROUGH SWINGING EASTWARD ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND THE SUBTROPICAL HIGH. ONCE THE RECURVATURE BEGINS...THE HURRICANE SHOULD INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED. MOST OF THE TRACK GUIDANCE SHIFTED SLIGHTLY TO THE WEST COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS RUN. THIS SHIFT IN GUIDANCE JUSTIFIES A VERY SMALL SHIFT TO THE WEST OF THE TRACK OFFICIAL FORECAST...WHICH INDEED IS VERY CLOSE TO THE CONSENSUS. LARGE SWELLS GENERATED BY THIS HURRICANE ARE AFFECTING THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS AND SHOULD BEGIN AFFECTING THE BAHAMAS...BERMUDA... MOST OF THE EASTERN U.S. COAST...AND THE ATLANTIC MARITIMES OF CANADA DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THESE SWELLS WILL LIKELY CAUSE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SURF AND LIFE-THREATENING RIP CURRENTS. PLEASE CONSULT STATEMENTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE FOR MORE DETAILS. THIS AFTERNOON NOAA AND THE 53RD HURRICANE HUNTERS WILL BE CONDUCTING A TWO-AIRCRAFT SYNOPTIC SURVEILLANCE MISSION AROUND HURRICANE BILL TO IMPROVE THE INITIAL ANALYSIS FOR THE NUMERICAL MODELS.
Hurricane Bill
Saturday AM Thoughts About Chester Race Week
August 18, 2009
Tim Wilkes Shows What Chester Race Week Is All About
August 17, 2009
Tim Wilkes and his team are a great addition to any regatta. They really know how to capture the action on the race course and the images they produce are top flight. If you are interested in seeing some of the shots from last week’s Chester Race Week, check out the gallery of images from the boat I was coaching – Pea Green. We even made the list of one of Tim’s favorites!
Great shots Tim! Although, with a boat like Pea Green, it doesn’t take too much to make her look so awesome!
Here is a fine little video piece with Tim explaining what he and his team do, and how they feel about Chester Race Week.
Friday AM at Chester Race Week 2009
August 15, 2009
And you learn something new everyday…
August 15, 2009
It’s the birthday of British novelist and military strategist T. E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadoc, North Wales (1888), the third illegitimate son of the seventh Baronet of Westmeath and his young governess wife.
He got into Oxford University, and during one of his summer vacations, he decided to go explore the Middle East alone, on foot. He set out for Syria in the summer of 1909, and before he returned to school in the fall, he’d walked more than 1,000 miles in Syria, Palestine, and Turkey, visited three dozen castles, and written journals full of meticulous notes. He came back to Oxford and wrote his final thesis based on these travels, entitled “The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture — to the End of the XIIth Century,” which earned him Oxford’s highest graduating honors and also a post-graduate fellowship in archaeology.
The British Museum invited him to be part of a prestigious archaeological dig they were conducting that year in Syria, at a Hittite site on the Euphrates River. There, the young graduate student decided that that academic research in any field was not for him, writing home to his mother: “I am not going to put all my energies into rubbish like writing history, or becoming an archeologist. I would much rather write a novel even, or become a newspaper correspondent …”
But he stuck around for a few more years on digs in the Middle East, including ones in Egypt and Palestine. On a dig in Carchemish, he befriended the 14-year-old water boy at the site, teaching him how to read and write. Lawrence then dedicated to the boy the book that is considered his most important, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1927), a cross between historical narrative and spiritual memoir.
Lawrence had learned to speak and read Arabic, and when World War I began, he went to work for Britain’s intelligence agency. Then, in 1916, he decided to join the armed forces on the ground, to encourage Arab revolt against the ruling Ottoman Turks, who had allied with Germany for the war. He wore long robes and headcloths and his comrades did, and he led Arab tribes in guerilla warfare in the desert, blowing up railroad tracks to impede enemy transport. He led his Arab forces in a decoy mission to distract the Turkish army so that British forces were able to invade Palestine and Syria. At one point, Lawrence was captured, beaten, and raped by a Turkish governor.
He accompanied the Arab delegation to the Peace Conference in Paris, and then Winston Churchill appointed him the political advisor on the Middle East. He was 31 years old and famous all over the world. But he also was unhappy in his new position, and he resigned and joined the Royal Air Force under a fake name, John Hume Ross. He was discovered, and he joined another branch of the British military under a different pseudonym. He spent a decade on a base in India, and also time in Afghanistan repairing engines. He didn’t earn much money, so for extra income, he translated Homer’s Odyssey for an American publisher. It took him four years to complete the translation, and it became a best seller. In his 40s, he retired to a quiet cottage in the English countryside and rode fast motorcycles; he owned seven of them. He died in a motorcycle at the age of 46. He’d swerved to avoid hitting two bicyclists and lost control, slammed into the ground, and died in a coma within a week.
The film Lawrence of Arabia, which came out in 1963, was based on his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, along with other accounts of his life.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®
Gale Force Sailing Mentioned in Spinsheet Magazine!
August 13, 2009
Check it out! Gale Force Sailing and our efforts to help save the World’s oceans have been promoted in the best dang sailing magazine out there – Spinsheet. Go to page 17 via the online viewer below to read more!
Chester Race Week Comments – Day One
August 13, 2009
Chester Race Week Kick Off
August 12, 2009
Bluenose 88 Racing in Chester, NS in 2009
Today is the first day of Chester Race Week 2009. Yesterday’s forecast predicted grim conditions for today, but the sun is out, the skies are blue, and the breeze is blowing. Now, the wind is blowing from the Northeast which could cause a bit of gradient (weather driven) vs sea breeze (thermal driven) weirdness, but who cares. It is race week!
I am sailing on a Bluenose (see picture) and we have 25 of these classic looking boats in our class. The start line is short, the races are short, and the competition is high. It is hard to swing a dead cat and not hit a champion, former Olympian, or all around great sailor in this town and in this class. But that is what makes this so much fun.
I will be Twittering from the race course (weather permitting – i.e. I might forget because I am working on my tan), so check the Gale Force Twitter account for updates. I will also try and do a post day debrief.
I am functioning as a protest arbitrator for the Alpha Course (big boats). Basically that means that if protests are lodged I listen to the two sides (no witnesses), give an opinion and leave it up to the competitors as to whether or not they really want to go to the protest room. The process is designed to streamline the protest procedure. I am not likely to make friends in this process:)
More to come!
About me
I am the owner of Gale Force Sailing and write about all things related to coaching, instruction and team building. contact me>>
